Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

May the Road rise to meet you,
May the Wind be always at your Back,
May the Sun shine warm upon your Face,
The Rain fall soft upon your Fields
And until we meet one day,

May God hold you in the hollow of His/Her loving hands.

An Irish Blessingway

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 3:09 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Miracles Do Happen!

For as long as the intention behind all our earthly efforts is a good one and we act with love from our heart and do our best, everything will always be well, and God and the Angels happy to do the rest. The Universal laws ensure that when we send our best into our world – and all worlds, for that matter – nothing but the best can come back to us. Any bread cast upon the waters of life does return, and any love that is ever given to anyone does the same, though not necessarily through the people we once gave it to. In fact, this hardly ever is the case. The likelihood is that it will come back to us at times when our need is greatest and when we least expect it. It can and does happen in quite magical ways with help suddenly appearing in the form of kind and loving hearts and hands that are reaching out to us, to comfort and hold.

After particularly traumatic and difficult times and events in our lives, we may have lost all faith in the innate goodness of people and life. However, experiencing in one’s own life that there are some truly kind people around who genuinely have our best at heart goes a long way towards restoring our lost trust. To teach us this lesson could have been the very reason why the situation that made us struggle arose in the first place. I for one am grateful to the Universe for having created opportunities from which I have learnt and still am learning that it really is safe to trust that help does come when it is required and that all my true needs are always met. Every soul can only learn from its own experiences that just when one thinks there’s nothing left inside to keep on struggling, out of the darkness from somewhere there comes a small light and new hope – and somehow life continues.
Difficult situations on all levels are necessary and vital in every life. They are steps on our evolutionary journey that in the end takes each one of us back home into the awareness of our true nature. So, let us not begrudge our tribulations but on the level of our soul and spirit rejoice that they have been created in our lives by the loving presence and the great wisdom of the Divine, not only for each one of us personally, but also nationally and internationally. Opportunities are thus created from which all must learn first hand how to work with the powers of the light and the love of the Universal Christ, the highest and brightest Star in the whole of Creation. Sticking our toes into the waters of life and trying and testing situations for ourselves presents all human souls with valuable evidence of how the power of the Great Universal love works and how it influences all life.
No matter what may ever befall us and our world on the physical plane of life, I do believe that both will go on forever and that miracles are happening at all times. It’s just that mostly we fail to perceive the miraculous ways of the Universe for what they truly are, namely the handiwork of God and the Angels. Ceaselessly, they are working behind the scenes of life to put things right again and heal people and situations when something has gone awry. The more we endeavour to be true to our real self and express the essence of our being, love, in every one of our thoughts, words and actions, the more miracles manifest themselves in our lives, because our human heart has then reunited itself with the great love of the Divine.

The legend of the Master Jesus demonstrates how, when the energies of Heaven and Earth merge into each other, a force of such magnitude is created that it is capable of healing all conditions of mind, body, spirit and soul. This is the power that can quite literally move mountains of faith, remove blockages of trust and make all crooked corners straight. It brings comfort and healing to everything that is in our world to wherever there is pain and suffering. Miracles are the Universe’s way of demonstrating to humankind the unlimited power of Its love. This is the healing balm and the panacea that needs to be applied by us earthlings to all situations in our everyday lives, all our relationships as well as to all national and international issues.

Let us stop and reflect for a moment on the wisdom of the Great Architect of life. The Universe is infinitely wise in its giving. Yet, it is even wiser in its taking. If we had never encountered the warped side of our lives and our world, we would not have been able to differentiate between good and bad, and that which desirable and undesirable. If we had never been wounded, we would appreciate what healing is like. We cannot know light, unless we have first experienced darkness. Only through the lack or loss of something or someone can we truly learn how to value what we had and also that which we are going to have, when periods of suffering finally lie behind us, as they invariable do in the end.

Such is life on the Earth plane! It has to be this way because that is how it was designed for us by our Father/Mother Creator. Who would we be to argue with Its wisdom? Take heart though – growing in understanding through difficult and traumatic experiences, the way it is required from us on the present level of our existence, is not going to continue indefinitely. All life is constantly evolving and moving forwards and upwards on a never ending spiral. When we, individually and as a race, have become sufficiently evolved, so that Earth life has nothing left to teach us, we shall be ready to move on to more advanced schooling on the higher and ultimately highest levels of life.

From ‘Healers And Healing’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 3:34 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Reflections On Prayer

In times of prayer our inner self is wide awake.
With our whole being we give
Our undivided attention to God and the Angels.
Failing to pray is a sign that someone is not yet
Aware of their own Christ nature and that
They are a spark of the Divine,
The same as everybody else.

Every human being contains this spark and
When someone feels no need to pray,
It is merely a sign that their spark is still
In its slumbering state and their time
For its awakening has not yet come.
Those who do not know how to go
About praying are still out of touch
With the most profound aspect of their nature.
And that’s the only difference between
Someone who prays and who does not.

Some believe that prayer
Separates us from real life,
Which to them means earthly life.
Yet, quite the opposite is true.
Prayer reconnects us with the eternal realities
Of the spirit realm, our true home.
It gives birth to our Christ nature and
We rediscover our own Divinity.
It returns us into the conscious awareness
Of our oneness with the Great Father/Mother of all life,
Our Creator and the whole of His/Her Creation
With all its manifestations of life.

J.M. Cagodevilla
Edited by Aquarius

Recommended Reading:
• ‘The Power Of Prayer’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 3:33 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Spirituality

The needs of our world are countless,
But none is greater than the one for seeking
The assistance of the spirit’s power,
To raise our vision above that which to this day
Appears to be sordid and squalid in our world.
On the wings of God’s sacred wisdom and truth
We can lift ourselves above these things
And perceive the greater picture.
This enables us to see that, in the fullness of time,
Everything that is still is ugly and wrong on our planet
Will be made beautiful and right.

The human spirit requires something to live for
And reach heavenwards to something that lies
Beyond our ordinary perception,
Instead of peering into the abyss.
We are here to learn how to look inwards,
To find the answers to all our questions
And to make the changes our world requires,
Rather than waiting for others
To do these things for us.
This alone can turn humankind’s instinct
For pursuing purely selfish desires and dreams
Into a victorious and unselfish serving of all life.

John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
Edited by Aquarius

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 3:48 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

White Eagle On The Wesak Moon And Festival

The Full Moon during the Sun’s transit of Taurus is known as the Wesak Moon and that always an extra special event in our world’s spiritual calendar. In the year 2019 it takes place on Saturday 18th May at 21.11 hours GMT. The following is the essence of several teachings on this theme from the White Eagle group of spirit guides. The first one is from ‘The Vibration of Light’ Stella Polaris June/July 2006:

‘There is nothing new under the Sun and anywhere in the whole of Creation that has not happened before. God’s truth was in the beginning and is as valid now as it will be forever. During Mother Earth’s protracted evolutionary process certain cycles of light have come round time and again. The higher esoteric meaning of the word ‘light’ is the wisdom of spiritual understanding. At certain intervals of humankind’s development there comes a fresh release of this kind of light to bring illumination to those who are ready to receive it. As if from great transmitter stations on the higher planes it flows into earthly life in the form of knowledge and wisdom that quickens people’s intelligence and opens their comprehension for the parts of wisdom that, for wise higher reasons, up to that time had to remain hidden from public view. This applies as much to secrets about your environment as your own inner being.’

White Eagle ‘The Festival of Wesak’ Stella Polaris April/May 2006: ‘Can you perceive that every bit of evil and suffering of your world has been caused by what merely on the surface of things appears to be people’s selfishness, though in truth it has been part of the lessons every human being has to take part in during its lifetimes on the Earth. On the deepest innermost level all souls are yearning to be released from this state of their development. The suffering of your world makes souls cry out and increases their yearning that humankind’s homecoming into the awareness of its true nature being speeded up. Every soul knows that the next stage of humankind’s development consists of merging together into one single unit of siblinghood that is connected in friendship with every lifeform.

‘This is how it comes about that, what once started as a journey of spiritual infants descending into the exploration of the lowest and darkest corners of earthly life, eventually ends with each one of you kneeling before the throne of the Highest. You will then have evolved into mature and responsible spiritual adulthood of which the wise ones in charge of you will rightly be proud. Quite likely we shall allow you to join our ranks if you apply for an apprenticeship.

‘Doubtless these things are difficult for you to imagine at present, but try to look the right way, i.e. the higher spiritual one, at everything that has always happened in your world and is doing so in many parts of your world to this day. Each time your soul is born into another lifetime on the Earth, it is nailed to the cross of earthly life, the oldest symbol known to humankind of its existence in physicality. Your whole race, as one entity is also fastened to this cross and each one of you, who is presently taking part in it, has been granted the gift of another lifetime for getting to know God’s true nature and your own, and that everything that has ever taken place on the Earth is an essential part of humankind’s individual and collective evolutionary process, in the material as well as the spiritual sense. You are then ready to share your knowledge with as many as possible of your siblings in the great family of humankind.

‘Whatever you do, refuse to fight against anything. Listen to your inner guidance and go with the flow. That is the best way of learning to live in harmony with God’s laws and all life, and for you there will be no more suffering. The Jesus legend’s crucifixion story provides you with a demonstration of this. If Jesus had been a man, he would not have been present when his physical body was crucified. His spirit and soul would withdraw from the scene and observe it from the perspective of the highest levels of life. That’s how all of you eventually learn how to treat your own problems and troubles, as well as those of your whole world.

‘Resist being crucified and tortured by anything. Instead view your life and everything in it from the perspective of your Highest or God Self. This empowers you to lift yourself above the tests and trials of earthly life that are still in store for you, because of the Karma you once created. Do not forget to look for the learning that is meant to be drawn from every situation. Recognise things for what they truly are, namely personal and collective evolutionary lessons and development phases that will most surely pass. This attitude helps you to rise above and cope with any problem you encounter, for you are then viewing it dispassionately through the eyes of your Highest Self, with whom you are ever more growing into one.

‘Not only every individual spirit and soul but humankind as a whole goes through the various initiations that are depicted by the story of the events of Jesus’ life. Each one of you at its own pace is constantly moving forwards and upwards on the evolutionary spiral of life. This happens slowly and by degrees, and at certain points on this journey you reach another initiation. Each one of them expands your consciousness and advances you one more big step towards your final goal of spiritual emancipation. The more your God-likeness increases, the more you are consciously aware of your oneness with your Creator. In similar manner this also happens to your planet and your world as a whole.’

White Eagle in ‘The Pathway of the Sun’: ‘The Wesak Festival is a period of stillness and preparation of mind and heart for the next great spiritual outpouring, the Christ festival, which takes place at the full Moon during the Sun’s transit through Gemini. In a ceremony that is as old as the Earth, a festival is held in the highest spirit realms when the Lord/Lady Christ appears among Its disciples. Disciples are all those who have surrendered their whole being to the Christ Spirit and whose hearts and minds are therefore open to receive It’s blessings. Those whose every cell and atom of their whole being, mind and body, spirit and soul, are healed together and harmoniously functioning as one have evolved into Christed ones in their own right. Each time they are tuning the receiver/transmitter stations of their earthly minds into the Christ vibrations on the highest levels, they are acting as Its channels. The blessing and healing power of the Christ Spirit then flows through them into the whole of Creation. This includes a powerful outpouring of love and light, wisdom and truth for Mother Earth and all her kingdoms. It pours fresh spiritual nourishment into humankind.

‘At certain times every year it is easier for earthlings to respond to and absorb such vibrations. When you do, they speed up and raise the rate of your own emanations. One of these periods is the Wesak festival, when you and we, on the other side of the veil that separates our two worlds, together take part in the outpouring of the Buddha energies. The Buddha is a symbol for the Divine aspect that feels deep compassion for the suffering of the whole of humankind has to endure, individually and collectively, in the course of its earthly education.

‘Because every one of the powers and characteristics that are in God are also in us, the Buddha aspect is also part of every human being, even though in many it has not yet woken from its slumber. The legend surrounding the Buddha tells you that he came to the Earth plane from another world, a heavenly planet – a metaphor for the highest levels of life –, to bring the gifts of wisdom and peace to relieve the suffering that is part of everyone’s earthly education. The Buddha energies, when they are flowing into earthly life, quicken humankind’s desire for wisdom and peace, siblinghood and love towards the whole of Mother Earth’s kingdoms, and in particular the human race.’

From ‘The Astro Files – Special Events’

* * *

White Eagle On The Wesak Moon And Festival

The Full Moon during the Sun’s transit of Taurus is known as the Wesak Moon and that always an extra special event in our world’s spiritual calendar. In the year 2019 it takes place on Saturday 18th May at 21.11 hours GMT. The following is the essence of several teachings on this theme from the White Eagle group of spirit guides. The first one is from ‘The Vibration of Light’ Stella Polaris June/July 2006:

‘There is nothing new under the Sun and anywhere in the whole of Creation that has not happened before. God’s truth was in the beginning and is as valid now as it will be forever. During Mother Earth’s protracted evolutionary process certain cycles of light have come round time and again. The higher esoteric meaning of the word ‘light’ is the wisdom of spiritual understanding. At certain intervals of humankind’s development there comes a fresh release of this kind of light to bring illumination to those who are ready to receive it. As if from great transmitter stations on the higher planes it flows into earthly life in the form of knowledge and wisdom that quickens people’s intelligence and opens their comprehension for the parts of wisdom that, for wise higher reasons, up to that time had to remain hidden from public view. This applies as much to secrets about your environment as your own inner being.’

White Eagle ‘The Festival of Wesak’ Stella Polaris April/May 2006: ‘Can you perceive that every bit of evil and suffering of your world has been caused by what merely on the surface of things appears to be people’s selfishness, though in truth it has been part of the lessons every human being has to take part in during its lifetimes on the Earth. On the deepest innermost level all souls are yearning to be released from this state of their development. The suffering of your world makes souls cry out and increases their yearning that humankind’s homecoming into the awareness of its true nature being speeded up. Every soul knows that the next stage of humankind’s development consists of merging together into one single unit of siblinghood that is connected in friendship with every lifeform.

‘This is how it comes about that, what once started as a journey of spiritual infants descending into the exploration of the lowest and darkest corners of earthly life, eventually ends with each one of you kneeling before the throne of the Highest. You will then have evolved into mature and responsible spiritual adulthood of which the wise ones in charge of you will rightly be proud. Quite likely we shall allow you to join our ranks if you apply for an apprenticeship.

‘Doubtless these things are difficult for you to imagine at present, but try to look the right way, i.e. the higher spiritual one, at everything that has always happened in your world and is doing so in many parts of your world to this day. Each time your soul is born into another lifetime on the Earth, it is nailed to the cross of earthly life, the oldest symbol known to humankind of its existence in physicality. Your whole race, as one entity is also fastened to this cross and each one of you, who is presently taking part in it, has been granted the gift of another lifetime for getting to know God’s true nature and your own, and that everything that has ever taken place on the Earth is an essential part of humankind’s individual and collective evolutionary process, in the material as well as the spiritual sense. You are then ready to share your knowledge with as many as possible of your siblings in the great family of humankind.

‘Whatever you do, refuse to fight against anything. Listen to your inner guidance and go with the flow. That is the best way of learning to live in harmony with God’s laws and all life, and for you there will be no more suffering. The Jesus legend’s crucifixion story provides you with a demonstration of this. If Jesus had been a man, he would not have been present when his physical body was crucified. His spirit and soul would withdraw from the scene and observe it from the perspective of the highest levels of life. That’s how all of you eventually learn how to treat your own problems and troubles, as well as those of your whole world.

‘Resist being crucified and tortured by anything. Instead view your life and everything in it from the perspective of your Highest or God Self. This empowers you to lift yourself above the tests and trials of earthly life that are still in store for you, because of the Karma you once created. Do not forget to look for the learning that is meant to be drawn from every situation. Recognise things for what they truly are, namely personal and collective evolutionary lessons and development phases that will most surely pass. This attitude helps you to rise above and cope with any problem you encounter, for you are then viewing it dispassionately through the eyes of your Highest Self, with whom you are ever more growing into one.

‘Not only every individual spirit and soul but humankind as a whole goes through the various initiations that are depicted by the story of the events of Jesus’ life. Each one of you at its own pace is constantly moving forwards and upwards on the evolutionary spiral of life. This happens slowly and by degrees, and at certain points on this journey you reach another initiation. Each one of them expands your consciousness and advances you one more big step towards your final goal of spiritual emancipation. The more your God-likeness increases, the more you are consciously aware of your oneness with your Creator. In similar manner this also happens to your planet and your world as a whole.’

White Eagle in ‘The Pathway of the Sun’: ‘The Wesak Festival is a period of stillness and preparation of mind and heart for the next great spiritual outpouring, the Christ festival, which takes place at the full Moon during the Sun’s transit through Gemini. In a ceremony that is as old as the Earth, a festival is held in the highest spirit realms when the Lord/Lady Christ appears among Its disciples. Disciples are all those who have surrendered their whole being to the Christ Spirit and whose hearts and minds are therefore open to receive It’s blessings. Those whose every cell and atom of their whole being, mind and body, spirit and soul, are healed together and harmoniously functioning as one have evolved into Christed ones in their own right. Each time they are tuning the receiver/transmitter stations of their earthly minds into the Christ vibrations on the highest levels, they are acting as Its channels. The blessing and healing power of the Christ Spirit then flows through them into the whole of Creation. This includes a powerful outpouring of love and light, wisdom and truth for Mother Earth and all her kingdoms. It pours fresh spiritual nourishment into humankind.

‘At certain times every year it is easier for earthlings to respond to and absorb such vibrations. When you do, they speed up and raise the rate of your own emanations. One of these periods is the Wesak festival, when you and we, on the other side of the veil that separates our two worlds, together take part in the outpouring of the Buddha energies. The Buddha is a symbol for the Divine aspect that feels deep compassion for the suffering of the whole of humankind has to endure, individually and collectively, in the course of its earthly education.

‘Because every one of the powers and characteristics that are in God are also in us, the Buddha aspect is also part of every human being, even though in many it has not yet woken from its slumber. The legend surrounding the Buddha tells you that he came to the Earth plane from another world, a heavenly planet – a metaphor for the highest levels of life –, to bring the gifts of wisdom and peace to relieve the suffering that is part of everyone’s earthly education. The Buddha energies, when they are flowing into earthly life, quicken humankind’s desire for wisdom and peace, siblinghood and love towards the whole of Mother Earth’s kingdoms, and in particular the human race.’

From ‘The Astro Files – Special Events’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 5:36 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

On The Wings Of Prayer

God and the Angels are as much
Part of us as we are of them.
That’s why every prayer is heard and responded to.
But because of our karmic debts and
The lifepath we ourselves once chose to walk,
Sometimes the answer has to be ‘No!’

Nonetheless, all burdens that are too heavy
To be carried on our own
Can be made more bearable
On the wings of prayer.

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Fri May 17, 2019 3:47 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

The Wesak Full Moon

Physically as well as spiritually, each full Moon reflects the maximum amount of the Sun’s light onto the Earth. Esoterically, light is God’s wisdom and knowledge that brings increased understanding to humankind.

Astrologically, the Moon is the symbol of our earthly personality and its soul that has many and varied experiences, through which it learns and grows in wisdom and understanding. Thus, our soul – the Moon – slowly gathers light, i.e. knowledge and wisdom from the Sun – our Highest Spirit Self – that disperses the darkness of our earthly self’s ignorance. When we share our learning with those around us and so lighten up their darkness, God’s eternal wisdom and truth through us enters some more into our world and in this way grows ever more powerful. The soul is the memory bank in which every bit of knowledge our earthly selves gather is stored.

One Moon cycle takes approx. twenty-nine and a half days and when the Sun and the Moon are in opposition to each other in the sky, a full Moon illuminates our world at night. This is always a very special time for giving thanks for everything that is and ever has been in our lives. It is also a time for finding enlightenment. Now, this does not usually happen through majestic earth-shattering and world-changing flashes of inspiration, like the Buddha is said to have received.

But if you watch out around the time of the full Moon in future, you may notice that you are gradually finding a greater understanding of difficult life situations and relationships. Insights may come to you that will somehow make them more bearable and it is possible to help things along a bit. If there are things in your life that are puzzling you, maybe have been doing for a long time, turn to your inner teacher, the Moon, the Universe – whichever appeals to you most – and ask your questions. The answers are sure to come, sometimes when you least expect them. To show your readiness to receive them, make sure to set aside regular quiet times for quiet reflections, contemplations and meditations.

Because of the extra mighty outflow of the blessing and healing power of the Cosmic Christ around Easter, the Wesak Festival and later the Easter celebrations as close as possible to the full Moon after the vernal equinox. And as in a physical and spiritual sense the full Moon reflects a maximum amount light of the Sun onto the Earth, humankind’s celebrations of all times have always ensured that it is received as fully as possible. Thus, the love of the Sun, who all along has stood for the Son, who in the Christian tradition became known as the only born Son of God, has gradually come increasingly alive in our world. Over the ages, it has been reborn in ever more earthly hearts that, one way or another, were being prepared by the celebrations of whatever faith they may have confessed to and followed, during any one of their many lifetimes.

I find it astonishing how the ancients, just the same as the early Christians, fixed the date of Easter and celebrated it, each tradition in its own style, without having a clue of the higher meaning of their ceremonies that to this day may still be hidden to a great many of its followers. And isn’t it amazing how through the ages humankind was always guided into doing the right things? For example, that we celebrated Easter in spite of not knowing that in truth we were taking part in a great Cosmic event, to which the Universe invites all who understand and are thus ready to consciously take part in the festivities, if they so wish. And what would you say if I told you that most of the insights I am sharing here with you came to me around the time of the full Moon before the vernal equinox? At that time the Sun and Moon are in opposition in the signs Pisces, ruled by Neptune, the enlightener, and Virgo, the healing and teaching sign of the zodiac, ruled by Mercury, the messenger of the Gods.

Some of the ancient pagan rituals and ceremonies date back to the earliest human settlements on the Earth and are still known and practised to this day. Carrying them forward into Christianity and continuing with them, in a somewhat changed format, ensured an uninterrupted flow of the great festival’s true purpose. These blessings of the Universal Christ have always taken place and will continue for as long as there is any need for them anywhere. It is astonishing to be able to see now how all this went on behind the scenes, unencumbered by any of the beliefs that are by now wildly outdated, which at any given time our world was desperately trying to cling on to.

From ‘The Astro Files – Special Events’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 1:54 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Do Not Fear The Unknown

The following is the essence of a teaching from the White Eagle group of spirit guides that appeared in ‘A Time to Remember’ in Stella Polaris Oct/Nov 2008: ‘Do not be afraid of the future and the unknown. The essence of your being is spirit/soul and there is no need to fear the moment when you part company with your physical body. Each time you do this you are merely moving forwards into a different dimension that is your true home from which you emerged at the beginning of your present lifetime. Our world with its greater freedom offers you a fuller existence. Your physical body has been your vehicle for one lifetime and whenever you leave it behind, all you do is joining us in our world of light.

‘Without consciously being aware of it whilst taking part in earthly life, this is a road most of you have travelled many times before. The only thing you can bring with you each time you return to us is that which you have learnt in the course of all your earthly lifetimes, including the most recent one. The purpose of your taking part in the school of earthly life is searching for consciousness expanding experiences that help you grow in wisdom and understanding. Each can only do this through their own experiences. The learning you accumulate with every new lifetime is added to that which is already stored in the memories of your soul. They are the only things you can take with you every time you depart from the physical plane of life.

‘The common belief that people come into earthly life with nothing and leave it in the same state is a false one. You bring the memories of the learning of all your lifetimes with you into every new one. From the moment of your birth and from the subconscious level of your being they influence everything you do, helping or hindering you, as the case may be. Have you noticed that some newly borns look like very old women or men? It’s because that’s what they truly are. That’s why some children come to terms with learning how to walk and talk much quicker than others. Because they have done these things many times before, they just want to get on with whatever else their present lifetime has to offer.’

Recommended Reading:
• ‘The Great Plan Of Life Unfolds’

From ‘Comfort for the Bereaved’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 2:45 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Judge Not And Ye Shall Not Be Judged

Part One

The Jesus legend tells us in the Sermon of the Mount St. Luke 6:37: ‘Judge not and ye shall not be judged; condemn not and ye shall not be condemned. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven.’ If the Jesus tale had at that time been meant to tell the truth, instead of hiding it behind its surface words, the Master would have told his disciples why this should happen to them. Knowing the truth would have helped them to avoid judging and condemning anyone. But that was not the intention then.

The Christian church and its religion was the finest instrument anyone could have wished for to familiarise us and our world with the lowest drives and urges of humankind’s unevolved nature. A veritable wolf who was hiding its intentions in sheep’s clothing, if ever there was one. Had anyone paid attention to and followed the Master’s words, the darkest chapters of our development like the witch hunts and the inquisition would have been impossible. We shall return to this theme.

It was for the sake of their lessons in the school of earthly life that the disciples of Jesus needed to think that their present existence was a one-off thing. For as long as they committed their crimes in the name of what they believed to be their God and were shielded by the protection of the organisation they served, they could not help being under the impression that they could do as they pleased. Nobody would know and dare to judge or condemn them because the Bible advised against it. For as long as no explanations why things should be the way they are, words of any kind lack the power to convince their listener or reader, even if the truth has been spoken in a way they cannot comprehend.

And as soon as we are told what happens when we judge or condemn someone, following the Bible’s advice makes a great deal of sense. At last we are allowed to know that it’s the law of Karma that sees to it that the same kind of treatment eventually finds its way back to us, so that we in turn find ourselves in situations of being judged and condemned by those around us. Something similar happens with every single one of our thoughts, words and actions, positive and negative ones alike. What the law unerringly returns to us does not necessarily come about through the same people but come it will, sooner or later, of that we can be sure.

We are our own ancestors and descendants and we ourselves are responsible for who and what we presently are. God did not create us this way, we did. If you wish to find out more about this, please follow the relevant link at the end of this chapter. The memories of the experiences of every one of our lifetimes are stored in our soul on the subconscious level of our being. For a long time we are protected against knowing of their presence. This is necessary because the earthly education of every human being includes taking part in hideous and monstrous things like those described in the next chapter.

Countless times we must have experienced gruesome and cruel adventures that were part of familiarising us with the crude and unevolved aspects of humankind’s nature, our own and other people’s. If we knew of them, we would find it impossible to live with ourselves. That’s why the love and wisdom of the Highest provides that the memories of all previous lifetimes are stored in the subconscious part of our being. From there they are influencing our thinking and behaviour patterns of our daily lives in either positive of negative ways.

When, through attending to our more recent karmic debts, we have spiritually matured sufficiently and grown strong enough to tackle the older and eventually the most ancient one of our obligations. That’s how the fears, phobias and anxieties we develop in one lifetime accompany us into every subsequent one, in the hope that one fine day we shall be able to overcome and shed them. Until that has happened they are likely to manifest themselves as feelings for which no rational explanations can be found. The same applies to depressive and addictive behaviour patterns. You can find out more about these themes by following the relevant links at the end of this chapter.

Our spiritual awakening brings with it the realisation why our life has been so difficult to handle. Help is at hand because we can now ask God and the Angels to show us intuitively how to deal with the emotional ballast that for a long time has been waiting to be released from our subconscious. The law of life is love. To free ourselves of unwanted feelings that rise from there onto the surface of our conscious awareness, we first need to forgive ourselves for the transgressions against the Universal laws earlier in this lifetime and all previous ones. Then we need to turn to those who trespassed against us and forgive them. It makes no difference in which lifetime it happened. The karmic chains and shackles that connect us as if they were made of steel are of an emotional nature. Forgiveness alone can dissolve them.

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Sun May 19, 2019 3:52 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Judge Not And Ye Shall Not Be Judged – Part Two

Notre Dame Cathedral : The Fire

On 15th April 2019 the wooden and therefore perishable part of the eight hundred and fifty years old Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was destroyed by fire. Its outer stone structure remained standing and I have it from a reliable source that, with the help and will of God and the Angels, it will not take long until the church will be restored and open its doors to something much greater than before. The source I am speaking of is the most trustworthy one of them all, the one that never let’s any one of us down and that is the inner guidance of the wise one or living God within.

Everything that happens in our world serves a wise higher purpose and this is particularly true for something of this nature. So let’s take a closer look. Notre Dame means Our Lady and that, in the days when the cathedral was built, was thought of as the Virgin Mary. The burning of the building’s wooden parts is a metaphor for the destruction of all false beliefs of the Christian teachings and in particular that of the Virgin Mary. We are in the process of leaving behind around six thousand years of patriarchy. Because of the dominance of the masculine and all-male Godhead, which all religions of our world had in common during this period, the knowledge of the Great Mother or Goddess’ presence was withdrawn from the consciousness of our world. In the case of Christianity God and the Angels replaced her with the Virgin Mary. She, the same as Jesus, is a thoughtform that never existed in earthly life. The Virgin is a symbol of the Great Mother.

Naturally, this did not change the fact that the Goddess always has been and forever will be the balancing feminine counterpart of God, the masculine aspect of the Divine Trinity, the Great Father. The spirit of the Universal Christ, the Light of all lights and the Sun of all suns, is their only born Son/Daughter. The loving union of these three cannot be separated by anything, least of all by false beliefs. Truths cannot be changed by anything and not being mentioned in any religious teachings does not interfere with them.

Nothing in the whole of Creation happens perchance or is a coincidence. Everything can only come about with the help and will of God and the Angels. And whatever takes place in our world first has to manifest itself on the inner spiritual level, its spiritual background. My inner guidance tells me that the disaster was the outer manifestation of a gigantic bonfire that was being held on the inner level because the time has come for removing the barriers which God and the Angels once erected to keep humankind away from its higher or Christ nature and the knowledge of its oneness with the Divine and all life. For wise educational reasons this objective was achieved through the patriarchal religions. Having served their purpose well, they are waiting to be removed.

Christianity in its present form was created by God and the Angels for the purpose of teaching our world the value of truth. Pretending that every word of this religion’s sacred texts is quite literally true provided us with the greatest deception ever. Fortunately, the natural end of this development has been reached and through the knowledge we are finding is removing the blinkers from our inner vision. The perishable part of the Christian teachings that for such a long time has been hiding God’s sacred wisdom and truth is of no use to us any more.

Every human being is entitled to eventually discover the truth about God’s real nature and their own and also find out that their earthly existence serves a wise higher purpose. The ability to recognise the truth when it comes before us and to understand it, so we can respond to it the right way, gradually develops in the course of our journey up the spiritual mountain of life. Having reached this point in our development, comprehend the higher purpose and meaning of things like the Jesus legend. But knowing about them on its own is not enough.

Spiritually, knowledge is light and not knowing is darkness. But the light we are finding along the road of our pathway through life can only become our spiritual property through acting upon it and applying it to our daily lives. Towards the end of our earthly education we have only one desire and that is to give of our best and bring forth, from deep within our own being, the qualities of our higher or Christ nature. The task of every aspiring healer and lightbringer consists of directing the rays of its wisdom into the dark clouds of ignorance that to this day are surrounding our world. The light that comes our way needs to be shared with as many as possible. Through this more and more of the darkness is gradually absorbed and that continues until every last bit of it has disappeared for good.

Ever more of us are reaching this phase of their development and because of this the perishable part of Notre Dame cathedral was no longer required and went up in flames. The fire’s cleansing and purifying effect was an outer manifestation of the inner process of removing the outdated aspect of the Christian teachings. But why should this take place in France out of all places and to such a beautiful jewel of Gothic architecture? Why did Jesus not protect Notre Dame cathedral? Because the story of his life is a legend and the God-man is but a symbol of every human being’s higher God or Christ nature, nothing more and nothing less. Having only ever existed as a thoughtform, like his mother Mary, he could not shield anything or anyone against harmful influences.

To understand this, we need to reach out a bit further to the year 2009. The events of our world’s economic crisis and the election of a new president of the USA, for the first time from a black and white background, to my mind were clear evidence that our race’s and planet’s evolutionary pace is being speeded up significantly. The energies of the Aquarian Age were hard at work with cleansing and purifying the consciousness of our whole world and the spirit/souls within it.

Pluto, the planet of transformation and regeneration and the co-ruler of Scorpio, plays a major part in this. It is one of the outer slow moving planets, known as the generation planets, that will remain in Capricorn until January 2024. Plenty of time for clearing away the things that for so long have been troubling our world. Until then Pluto energies will keep us and our world engaged in the process of breaking down and then rebuilding the structures that are essential for the successful running of our world. At the time of updating this file for the first time in December 2008, Pluto had for some time been hovering around the cusp of Capricorn, the sign that rules large institutions, like banks, building societies, insurance companies, churches and so forth. The representatives of governments, the police, the legal and medical profession and in particular the religious belief systems of our world are not excluded from the purging and cleansing effect of Pluto’s energies.

Ever more forcefully they are drawing everybody’s attention to that which had previously been hidden from public view and knowledge. Like scum on a mill pond, that which is no longer desirable is rising to the surface of our race’s individual and collective consciousness, so it can be cleared away. Many of the things that are happening set me wondering how long it will take until the last one of us comprehends that nothing can remain hidden any longer. An essential part of this cleansing process are the scandals that for some time have been rocking Christianity’s foundations.

Recommended Reading:
• ‘Pluto In Capricorn’

From ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 2:50 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Judge Not And Ye Shall Not Be Judged – Part Three

Christianity’s Wake Up Call

I perceive the Notre Dame fire as Christianity’s wake up call. The cathedral’s solid outer stone structure, damaged but not beyond repair, conveys the message that basically there is nothing wrong with the Jesus tale. The belief that Jesus is a historical figure who once walked in our midst has dented the story, but its true meaning can easily be restored. God and the Angels created it so that when the right time had come, ever more of us would be waking up from their spiritual slumbers. This would enable us to recognise that the Jesus story is but a legend that like a picture book describes the initiations every human being in the course of their earthly education is taking part in. Up to the point of our awakening we have no idea of why things are happening to us.

To me, the collapsing of the cathedral’s wooden spire is a symbol of the way the Christian belief structure has been obstructing the spiritual progress of its followers. Having been built of the wrong material, it was impossible for this tower to reach up to the Heavens. That’s why no help could come from Jesus to stop humankind’s tendencies of warmongering and troublemaking. The roof of the building burning like a tinderbox and caving in completely represents a belief structure that, built the same way as the spire, was never intended to protect Christianity against such influences. The scandals that are emerging these days in connection with Christianity are further proof that the belief that every word of the Jesus story is literally true is an erroneous one. The facts that for some time have been bubbling to the surface of our world’s consciousness are clear evidence that from the highest to the lowest of their own ranks and files, especially in Catholic churches, the belief in Jesus did not have the power to stop people from expressing the lower evil aspect of their nature.

Bearing in mind that the Jesus story is but a legend, it does not come as a surprise that he could not provide the spiritual protection against these things. The surface words of the tale, for as long as their higher esoteric truth is unknown and acted upon, cannot create an effective inner barrier in anyone’s consciousness against the onslaught of the drives and urges of their lower animal nature. Learning about the Universal laws and how they affect all lifeforms throughout the whole of Creation leads to the natural end of giving in to its temptations. They are most certainly not from the devil but the lower less evolved part of our own being. For as long as we still believe that every word of the Christian teachings is literally true and therefore are unaware of the existence of God’s laws, the right way of living and behaving, i.e. in harmony with these laws, is very difficult.

God and the Angels gave us the legend of the Lord Buddha. Through it they are telling us that the right way of conducting our lives is by responding to whatever comes our way with good, kind and loving thoughts, words and actions that are in harmony with the Universal laws, as in that case no negative Karma is created. The literalism of the Christian teachings with its in that case false beliefs provide us with no natural barrier against acting on the drives and urges of our lower nature. The result is thoughtless and cruel ways of hurting and wounding those around us and in particular younger and weaker ones who are at our mercy and in need of our protection. When our higher consciousness has woken from its slumbering state, it understands the truth when it comes our way and that it is necessary to act upon it. That is the best shields anyone could have against behaving in aggressive and hurtful ways.

This is the finest example I can think of when knowledge truly makes us powerful. The awareness of God’s Universal laws empowers us to send nothing but the right kind of thoughts, words and actions into our world. As a result, when in the fullness of time the last one of our karmic debts has been redeemed, nothing but more of what we once sent into our world can return to us. That’s the only way of guarding ourselves against ‘the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes’, as Shakespeare put it. When we are no longer creating these traps for ourselves, they can no longer return and hit us. This is how the Universal Forces eventually supply every one of us with the immensely valuable gift of awareness free of charge.

Up to that point of our development, temptations to indulge in evil thoughts, words and deeds that have their origin in the cruel streak of our lower nature from time to time will enter our earthly mind. When we give in to them and, as a result of our ignorance, respond to them with: ‘Why shouldn’t I do this? Nobody can see me?’ we could be no more wrong. We may well be under the impression that the temptations to behave in wicked and cruel ways are brought upon us by the devil, a force outside ourselves against which there is no protection. Wrong again! In truth, they are the result of deeply ingrained thought and behaviour patterns of our lower unevolved nature which we brought with us from previous lifetimes into the present one. That’s how, for a long time without knowing what we are doing, we are creating negative Karma that can do nothing but return to us in due course. Awareness changes all this. With its help we can turn any event into something positive and constructive.

Every one of our thoughts, words and actions at any given moment is a seed of what we are going to harvest in future lifetimes. I am convinced that awareness of our higher God or Christ nature is the key to ending every last bit of suffering that still exists in our world, because this part can then step in and help our lower earthly self to overcome and leave behind the drives and urges that for long enough have been holding up our spiritual development. Knowing why we are in this life and the wise higher purpose of our existence makes it easier to stop them from gaining the upper hand, the way they used to do in the past.

This is how in the fullness of time, the wisdom and love of the Great Father/Mother of all life provides every one of its children of the Earth with the knowledge of the Universal laws. As you will be able to see for yourselves by now, knowledge of the TRUTH is the most effective coat of armour against nasty and unpleasant things that exists in the whole of Creation.

From ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 5:52 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

When Death Draws Near

The following is the essence of teachings from the White Eagle group of spirit guides. The first one is from ‘The Divine Mother – The Creation of Form’. The second one appeared in ‘White Eagle Spiritual Unfoldment Two ‘Companioned by Angels’:

‘For all human beings there eventually comes the moment when they leave their physical bodies behind and die, as it’s called in earthly life, although in truth the only thing that happens to these bodies is that their indwelling spirit and soul withdraws from it. Leaving the body through the head, the outer garment is discarded like an empty shell. Nobody is ever alone in this process. Each time this happens to someone the Angels are in attendance and assisting the departure of one aspect of your being from the other. The Angelic hierarchy is responsible for humankind’s development and when matters of birth and death are concerned, they are serving the Great Mother of all life. Christianity’s Virgin Mary is one of her many symbols and so is the Egyptian Goddess Isis. They were just two of the many names God and the Angels gave to your world to illustrate the Great Mother’s influence down the ages.

‘For as long as all you can see are the physical aspects of life, you are likely to think of death as something terrible. Even though to you someone’s departure from that plane may often seems to be accidental, this is never the case because the group of Angels known as the Lords of Karma are observing everything that happens on the Earth most carefully. Each time the predestined moment of death for one of you is approaching, they make their preparations and give notice to the Angels of Death to get ready. And these Angels are by no means the repellent figures and gruesome spectres people imagined them to be in the past.

‘If you could look through the veil of consciousness that to this day separates your world from ours, you would be able to see that their appearances are of an ethereal beauty that is hard to describe in earthly terms. As manifestations of the Great Mother’s unconditional and all-embracing love, the Angels of Death emanate compassion, kindness and love. At the moment of your departure from earthly life these Divine messengers bring about the separation of your spirit/soul from your earthly existence. The Angel helps you to let go and then returns you safely to your true home, the world of spirit and light. They also assist you with your rebirth in our world, where loved ones are greeting you with celebrations that are very similar to those of earthly life when new babies arrive.

‘In case you are wondering how you can best help someone whose departure from earthly life is near, the power of thought can be more effective than any spoken or written words could ever hope to be. It is possible to help those in the ‘departure lounge’ by sending them optimistic thoughts about the fact that in truth they are eternal beings who will never die. In your mind hold kind and loving, hopeful and constructive dialogues with them that there is nothing to be afraid of because there really is no death, that what’s ahead of them is but a passing into another dimension of life.

‘And then, in your imagination, take the person into the blessing and healing rays of the Christ Star, to be bathed in the powerful light of the only born Son/Daughter of the Great Father/Mother. By attuning the receiver/transmitter station of your earthly mind to the Star’s healing rays you can send these rays at any moment to those of whom you know intuitively that they will benefit from them. In any kind of distance such ministrations are as effective – more so in many cases – than physical ones like ‘hands on’.

‘We sincerely hope that what you are reading here will help you to overcome your own notion that the worst that can happen to any human being is the passing from their physical body. Whenever you catch yourself thinking that way, remember that those who do are by no means dying and that in truth they are heading for another rebirth into our world. Ours is a realm of infinite beauty and wonder, love and joy where pain does not exist and where all those who pass from your world continue to live and thrive, explore and study, so there really is no need for expressions of grief and sorrow. Let there be compassion but not pity.

‘The American poet John Greenleaf Whittier, 1807-1892 described this most beautifully in his poem for the funeral of William Lloyd Garrison, 1805-1879: ‘Death is the Angel sent who draws the unwilling bolt and sets the captive free’.

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Without the way there is no going.
Without the truth there is no knowing.
Without the light there is no living.

Thomas à Kempis
1380 – 1471

Without the truth there is no way of finding out why anything happens in our world and elsewhere in the whole of God’s Creation. What mainly gets in the way are Christian beliefs like:

1. Human life is a one-off affair, at the end of which we are snuffed out like a candle. In truth we are sparks of the Great Light and our spirit/soul are immortal and eternal just like our parent. At the end of each lifetime we return to the world of spirit. That is our true home from which we emerge at the beginning of each new lifetime.

2. God and the Angels are somewhere ‘out there’ in the Heavens above our world. In truth they are part of us and we are part of them. On the inner level of life there is no separation between anything. And because they are part of us, none of our thoughts, words and actions ever escapes their attention.

3. As long as there are no witnesses, nobody can see what we are doing in earthly life. In truth we are under constant observation of the Highest.

4. I can think what I like, nobody knows about it except me. On the inner level of life it is as if we were shouting our thoughts and intentions, especially the most secret ones, from the rooftops, for all to see.

5. It does not really matter when I sin because Jesus died on the cross to redeem my sins. He will save me. In truth each one of us is their own saviour and redeemer. No-one will come along with a magic wand and make our misdeeds good on our behalf.

6. Jesus is my God and the devil is his and my eternal adversary. They are at loggerheads with each other. Both are forces outside of me. In truth they are the two sides of the same coin and part of every human being’s nature. They represents the two aspects of our lower unevolved earthly self and our higher God or Christ nature.

7. Going to church on Sundays and saying that I believe in Jesus, whether I really do or not, is enough to be saved and redeemed by the God-man. In truth Jesus only ever existed as a thoughtform. He was created by God and the Angels for a certain period of humankind’s development and never could do any of these things for anyone. God is everywhere and can be connected with anywhere, so there is no need for visiting church on Sundays except as a community centre for meeting other people.

8. On judgement day Jesus takes those who believe in him to his place in Heaven. Anyone who refuses to do this has to burn in the fires of hell and that forever. In truth, as mentioned above at the end of each lifetime everybody returns to the world of spirit. There is no other place anyone can go to. Heaven and hell are not places for going to, they are states of consciousness we create for ourselves and each other through our attitude towards life which is based on our understanding of life.

9. On judgement day Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, i.e. those who believe in him and those who do not. In truth, we ourselves are the only ones who, each time we return to the world of spirit, as soon as we have recovered sufficiently from the stresses and strains of earthly life, are presented with the opportunity to judge our performance of all earthly lifetimes up to the most recent ones. Together with the wise ones in charge of us we then decide upon the best course of action for the coming one.

Let’s return to Thomas a Kempis wisdom for a moment. True to the purpose for which it was created, the suppression of truth, Christianity to this day rejects the concept of evolution. As life never moves backwards or even stands still for a moment, there is no way forward for this religion. If it insists on its present form it must die. In Christianity’s teachings to this day the truth remains hidden from public view and knowledge behind the surface words. That’s why for this religion there is no knowing. Ever growing and increasing knowledge spiritually is light and religions that deny it have no light. If they insist for continuing with this, they are signing their own death warrants.

To paraphrase the wisdom God and the Angels gave to our world through the Buddha legend: ‘Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it somewhere. Even if it is spoken and rumoured by many or you have found it written in the religious books of your world or you received it from your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. When you find, after careful observation and analysis, that something agrees with your reasoning and is conducive to your good and the benefit of all, accept it and conduct your life by it. In this way alone can it become your spiritual property that no-one will ever be able to take away from you.’

From ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 2:36 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

Judge Not And Ye Shall Not Be Judged – Part Five

The Inquisition And Witch Hunts

The Moving Finger writes
And, having writ, moves on.
Not all your piety nor wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a line,
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.

From ‘The Rubaiyat’
Omar Khayyam

Notre Dame cathedral was built on a small island called the Île de la Cité, in the middle of the Seine. Construction began in 1163, during the reign of King Louis VII, and was completed in 1345. This places it into the period when the Catholic church ruled supreme with the help of its long arm, the Inquisition. This powerful office was set up to root out and punish every bit of truth that emerged here and there throughout Europe and the Americas. It was declared to be heresy and mercilessly stamped out. Beginning in the 12th century and continuing for hundreds of years, the Inquisition is infamous for the severity of its tortures and in particular its persecution of Jews and Muslims. Its worst manifestation was in Spain, where it was a dominant force for more than two hundred years, resulting in some 32,000 executions.

The Inquisition has its origins in the early organised persecution of non-Catholic Christian religions in Europe. In 1184 Pope Lucius III sent bishops to southern France to track down heretics called Cathars. These efforts continued into the 14th Century. During the same period, the church also pursued the Waldensians in Germany and Northern Italy. In 1231, Pope Gregory charged the Dominican and Franciscan Orders to take over the job of tracking down heretics.

Cathars, in general, formed an anti-sacerdotal party, i.e. hostile to priests and priesthood, in opposition to the Catholic Church, protesting against what they perceived as its moral, spiritual and political corruption. They are now mainly remembered for a prolonged period of persecution by the Catholic Church who did not recognise their belief as Christian. Catharism appeared in Europe in the Languedoc region of France in the 11th century and this is when the name first appears. Languedoc-Roussillon, often called the Languedoc is a historical coastal region in southern France that extends from Provence to the Pyrenees Mountains and the border with Spain. It is now part of Occitanie. Montpellier, its regional capital is home to a well-preserved medieval quarter.

Inquisitors would arrive in a town and announce their presence, giving citizens a chance to admit to heresy. Those who confessed received a punishment ranging from a pilgrimage to a whipping. Those who were accused of heresy were forced to testify. If the heretic did not confess, torture and execution were inescapable. Heretics were not allowed to face accusers, received no counsel and were often victims of false accusations. If you did not like someone’s face, to get rid of them all you had to do is to report them as heretics.

Bernard Gui wrote the influential guidebook for Inquisitors called ‘Conduct of the Inquisition into Heretical Depravity’ in the early 14th Century. Gui himself pronounced over 600 people guilty of heresy and was featured as a character in Umberto Eco’s novel The Name of the Rose. There were countless abuses of power. Count Raymond VII of Toulouse was known for burning heretics at the stake even though they had confessed. His successor, Count Alphonese, confiscated the lands of the accused to increase his riches.

In 1307, Inquisitors were involved in the mass arrest and tortures of 15,000 Knights Templar in France, resulting in dozens of executions. Joan of Arc, burned at the stake in 1431, is the most famous victim of this wing of the Inquisition. In the late 15th Century, King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella of Spain believed corruption in the Spanish Catholic Church was caused by Jews who, to survive centuries of anti-Semitism, converted to Christianity. Known as Conversos, they were viewed with suspicion by old powerful Christian families. Conversos were blamed for a plague and accused of poisoning peoples’ water and abducting Christian boys.

Ferdinand and Isabella feared that even trusted Conversos were secretly practicing their old religion. The royal couple was also afraid of angering Christian subjects who demanded a harder line against Conversos. Christian support was crucial in an upcoming crusade against Muslims planned in Granada. Ferdinand felt an Inquisition was the best way to fund that crusade, by seizing the wealth of heretic Conversos. In 1478, under the influence of clergyman Tomas de Torquemada, the monarchs created the Tribunal of Castile to investigate heresy among Conversos. The effort focused on stronger Catholic education for Conversos, but by 1480, the Inquisition was formed.

That same year, Jews in Castile were forced into ghettos separated from Christians, and the Inquisition expanded to Seville. A mass exodus of Conversos followed. In 1481, 20,000 Conversos confessed to heresy, hoping to avoid execution. Inquisitors decreed that their penitence required them to name other heretics. By the year’s end, hundreds of Conversos were burned at the stake.

Hearing the complaints of Conversos who had fled to Rome, Pope Sextus proclaimed the Spanish Inquisition was too harsh and was wrongly accusing Conversos. In 1482 Sextus appointed a council to take command of the Inquisition. Torquemada was named Inquisitor General and established courts across Spain. Torture became systemised and routinely used to elicit confessions. Sentencing of confessed heretics was done in a public event called the Auto-da-Fe. All heretics wore a sackcloth with a single eyehole over their heads. Heretics who refused to confess were burned at the stake.

Sometimes people fought back against the Inquisition. In 1485, an Inquisitor died after being poisoned and another was stabbed to death in a church. Torquemada managed to round up the assassins and burn forty-two people in retaliation. His own downfall came when he investigated members of the clergy for heresy. Complaints to Pope Alexander VI convinced him that Torquemada needed tempering, so was forced to share leadership with four other clergymen until he died in 1498.

Diego de Deza took over as Inquisitor General, escalating the hunt for heresy within cities and rounding up scores of accused heretics, including members of the nobility and local governments. Some were able to bribe their way out of imprisonment and death, reflecting the level of corruption under de Deza. After Isabella’s death in 1504, Ferdinand promoted Cardinal Gonzalo Ximenes de Cisneros, the head of the Spanish Catholic Church, to Inquisitor General. Ximenes had previously made a mark in Granada persecuting the Islamic Moors.

As Inquisitor General, Ximenes pursued Muslims into North Africa, encouraging Ferdinand to take military action. Upon seizing African towns, the Inquisition became established there. Ximenes was dismissed in 1517 after pleas from prominent Conversos, but the Inquisition was allowed to continue. Rome invented its own version of it in 1542 when Pope Paul III created the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition to combat Protestant heresy. This Inquisition is best known for putting Galileo on trial in 1633.

Galileo Galilei, 1564-1642, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer who became known as the father of observational astronomy, modern physics, the scientific method and modern science. He championed heliocentrism and Copernicanism was controversial during his lifetime. The matter was investigated by the Roman Inquisition in 1615, which concluded that heliocentrism was foolish and absurd in philosophy and formally heretical since it explicitly contradicts in many places the sense of Holy Scripture.

Galileo later defended his views in ‘Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems’ 1632, in which he seemed to attack Pope Urban VIII. This alienated Galileo with the Pope and the Jesuits. Both had supported him up to that point. As a result, he was tried by the Inquisition, found vehemently suspect of heresy, forced to recant and had to spend the rest of his life under house arrest. During this time he wrote ‘Two New Sciences’ in which he summarised work he had done some forty years earlier on the two sciences now called kinematics and strength of materials.

Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473-1543, was a mathematician and astronomer o the Renaissance era. He formulated a model of the Universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at its centre, in all likelihood independently of Aristarchus of Samos Greece, who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier

In 1545, the Spanish Index was created, a list of European books considered heretical and forbidden in Spain, based on the Roman Inquisition’s own Index Librorum Prohibitorum. In other nods to Rome’s concerns, the Spanish Inquisition focused on the rising population of Spanish Protestants in the 1550s. In 1556, Philip II ascended the Spanish throne. He had previously brought the Roman Inquisition to the Netherlands, where Lutherans were hunted down and burned at the stake.

As Spain expanded into the Americas, so did the Inquisition, established in Mexico in 1570. In 1574, Lutherans were burned at the stake there, and the Inquisition came to Peru, where Protestants were likewise tortured and burned alive.

In 1580 Spain conquered Portugal and began rounding up and slaughtering Jews who had fled Spain. Philip II also renewed hostilities against the Moors, who revolted and found themselves either killed or sold into slavery. Philip II died in 1598 and his son, Philip III, dealt with the Muslim uprising by banishing them. From 1609 to 1615, 150,000 Muslims who had converted to Catholicism were forced out of Spain.

By the mid-1600s the Inquisition and Catholic dominance had become such an oppressive fact of daily life in Spanish territories that Protestants avoided those places altogether. In 1808, Napoleon conquered Spain and ordered the Inquisition there to be abolished. After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, Ferdinand VII worked to reinstate the Inquisition but was ultimately prevented by the French government, which helped Ferdinand overcome a fierce rebellion. Part of the agreement with France was to dismantle the Inquisition, which was defunct by 1834.

The last person to be executed by the Inquisition was Cayetano Ripoll, a Spanish schoolmaster hanged for heresy in 1826. The Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition still exists, though changed its name a couple of times. It is currently called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Witch-phobia and prosecutions for the alleged crime of witchcraft reached a highpoint from 1580 to 1630 during the Counter-Reformation and the European wars of religion, when an estimated 50,000 persons were burned at the stake, of which roughly eighty percent were women and most often over the age of forty.

The Reformation was a movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Roman Catholic church – and papal authority in particular. Period: 1517 – 1648

The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contrareformatio), also called the Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica) or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and largely ended with the 1781 Patent of Toleration, although smaller expulsions of Protestants continued into the 19th century.

Initiated to preserve the power, influence and material wealth enjoyed by the Catholic Church and to present a theological and material challenge to Reformation, the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of apologetic and polemical documents, ecclesiastical reconfiguration as decreed by the Council of Trent, a series of wars, political manoeuvring including the efforts of Imperial Diets of the Holy Roman Empire, exiling of Protestant populations, confiscation of Protestant children for Catholic institutionalised upbringing, heresy trials and the Inquisition, anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements and the founding of new religious orders.

Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the church, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.

It also involved political activities that included the Roman Inquisition and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Protestants. One primary emphasis of the Counter-Reformation was a mission to reach parts of the world that had been colonized as predominantly Catholic and also try to reconvert areas such as Sweden and England that were at one time Catholic but became Protestant during the Reformation.

From ‘Astrology As A Lifehelp On The Healing Journey’

* * *

Re: Food For Thought - Part Two

Posted: Thu May 23, 2019 1:41 pm

by aquarius123esoteric

The Natural End Of All Religions

As pointed out many times in other parts of my jottings, in the New Age all religions will go from our world and that for the simple reason that there will no longer be any need for them. Considering how much misery and suffering they have brought and still are doing to this day, this gives us plenty of grounds for rejoicing.

Have you ever asked yourself, as I have: ‘What does religion actually mean?’ In its original sense religion signified the respect for what is sacred and the reverence for the Gods. The word stood for an obligation and the bond between humankind and the Gods. It is derived from the Latin religio, the ultimate origins of that word are obscure. One possibility is an interpretation traced to Cicero, connecting lego ‘read’, i.e. re – like in again – plus lego in the sense of ‘choosing’, ‘going over again’ or ‘considering carefully’.

Modern scholars such as Tom Harpur and Joseph Campbell apparently favour the derivation from ligare ‘bind, connect’, probably from a prefixed re-ligare, i.e. re – again – + ligare or ‘to reconnect,’ which was made prominent by St. Augustine, following the interpretation of Lactantius. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders. We hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece or a knight of the religion of Avys.

Isn’t it sad that the teachings of the religions of our world and the Christian ones in particular contain such a rich store and diversity of gems of spiritual truth and that to this day far too many of them are still misunderstood and misinterpreted? What a pity that the spiritual progress of so many of the remaining religions is unnecessarily hampered by too narrow a field of vision.

Fortunately, there have always been groups and associations on both sides of the veil of consciousness that separates our two worlds, who were and still are genuinely working with the Highest levels of life for the blessing and healing of us and our world. With hindsight it is easy to see that what those who failed to pursue this aim did not understand that true religion is a matter of the heart and never had anything to do with dogma and creed. The only concern of true religion is the re-establishment and reinforcement of humankind’s heart relationship with our Creator, the Great White Spirit, Father/Mother of all life.

An essential part of the learning curve of the patriarchy lessons was that with the passing of time its religions, with their all-male Divinity, suppressed ever more forcefully the wisdom of the feminine, the Great Mother. Without this, all these religions could hope to achieve was putting a roof on the structure of their belief systems because they ignored the fact that of necessity the teachings of the legends of their scriptures were in truth based on and had their origin in the spiritual/esoteric background of life. Without this any religion lacks the necessary foundation that acknowledges humankind’s true reality, origin and home, the world of spirit and light, from which all myths and legends of the past once emerged.

The result of this was that the interests of the religious organisations’ employees were given preference to caring for the spiritual wellbeing of the communities they were meant to serve. For many centuries the establishments involved remained blissfully unaware of the fact that the foundations of any construction have to be laid before a roof can be put on its top. The most basic underpinning of all life, not merely that of religious institutions, is humankind’s relationship with its Creator. As soon as this has been duly attended to, the rest of the structure comes right on its own.

Only when the human soul’s spiritual beliefs finally rest in a deep inner understanding of God’s true nature and its own, can total and unconditional love and respect, tolerance and understanding for all life and the One who created it grow organically from what our inner guidance intuitively tells us what is true. Only when our faith is based on this foundation and has established and embedded itself deep in our hearts and souls, can the temple of healing and peace that exists on the inner plane of life manifest itself in our earthly self and rise from there into the Heavens.